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IMPROVEMENT l/V HOOPED SKIRTS CHARLES QUARPENTER Inventor.

1 1 6 41 1. mm M 2718 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

CHARLES C. CARPENTER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN HOOP-SKIRTS To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OHARLEs G. CARPENTER, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hoop-Skirts, of which the following is a specification:

My invention is an improvement upon the skirt patented by Samuel Peberdy November 30, 1858, in which the hoop or spring is continuous, and is wound spirally from the top to the bottom of the skirt; and also upon the hoop'skirt patented by William H. Towers November 17, 1868, having an upper and a lower nest of hoops and an intervening space; and my said improvement consists in forming the lower nest of the skirt of the same wire which crosses spirally the space between the upper and the lower nests, and unites the two nests together; also in formin g the lower portion of the bustle and front guards or fenders for the knees by a series of wires at tached to and star-ling from the front of the waistband, and passing spirally around both sides of the skirt, interlacing with each other at the bustle, and terminating at the front of the waistband, by which improvements the following, among other desirable advantages, are obtained, viz.: economy in the manufacture of the skirt; increased stiffness and supporting power by the interlacing at the back, near the top or waist; and front guards or fenders, to prevent the projection of the knees through and into the intervening space; and rendering the skirt more agreeable and convenient for the wearer.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 represents a view in perspective, as seen from the front,

of ahoop-skirt embracing my improvements. Fig. 2 represents a similar view of the same as seen from the rear.

The bustle is formed in part by four or more separate hoops, 1 2 3 4, and four or more continuous hoops, 5, 6, 7, and 8, attached to the front tapes b, and winding around in opposite directions, so as to cross and interlace with each other at the back, as shown at e, continuing spirally around to the front, where they cross the space between the front tapes I) and form guards or fenders g to prevent the knees from projecting over and beyond the lower nest of hoops, and thus obviate the disadvantage of the latter catching under the knees when the wearer rises from a sitting position, as would be the case if the wires did not cross above the lower hoops. These series of single strands, 5, 6, 7, and 8, therefore, serve, first, to form the bustle; second, to stiffen and increase the supporting power of the back of the skirt by crossing and interlacing; and, third, to form a fender, g, for the knees in front. The lower skirt or nest of hoops, 9 to 15, is formed by a single wire, 9, one end of which is attached to one of the front tapes I) of the bustle at d, and, continuing around spirally parallel with the continuous fender and bustlewires 5, 6, 7, and 8, leaves the same at the front thereof, and forms, by continuous spiral revolutions, the lower nest 9 to 15 separate and distinct from the upper, and yet connected to it by the same wire, 9, from which the lower nest is formed, thus obtaining a hoop-skirt having two nests, with the intervening wires forming a part of both nests, and holding the lower nest from swaying. The wires or hoops thus arranged are secured to the tapes I) b b b at the places of the intersection of the two, and the tapes are secured to the waistband in the usual manner.

I am aware that one or more bracing-hoops, which extend from a point at or near the top of the skirt at the back to a point at or about the height of the knees of the wearer in front, have been patented by Charles E. Pratt July, 1870, and I therefore do not claim such bracing-hoops as my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. In a hoop-skirt having an upper and a lower nest of hoops with an intervening space, the lower or skirt-nest thereof, formed by the same hoop 9 which passes spirally through the space between the upper and the lower nests, and unites the two together without use of separate wires or fastenin gs, as'described.

2. The lower portion of the bustle-nest and the knee-guards or fenders of the lower nest, formed by one and the same series of wires, 5, 6, 7, and 8, in the manner described.

3. The bustle and knee-guard wires crossed and interlaced at the back, for the purpose of increasing the strength and supporting power of the skirt at the back, as described.

4. In a hoop-skirt in which the lower nest is formed of a continuous wire, which also unites it with the bustle-nest, the combination therewith of the separate wires 5, 6, 7, and 8, crossed and interlaced at the bustle or back, and the knee-guards or fenders 9, formed thereby, crossing the front space above the lower hoops, as described.

Witnesses: CHAS. C. CARPENTER.

HENRY STANTON, A. F. GURLITZ. 

